“Crusin with Al”, Summer Vacation 2007

Hello to our sailing friends.. Some of the Gato Loco crew will be sailing the Greek Islands early August. This sailing adventure is part of Frankie and My summer vacation. In the past, we’ve reduced our email update distribution for this type of vacation but by popular demand we will be sending updates to the full BajaAmigos mail list. If you would prefer to be removed from the list follow this link. We will add you back after this adventure is over. For those who want to follow the McCulleys to Europe and back, read on to get all the details. Also for those interested in how we send these updates follow this link.. Enjoy the Cruise…

Our friend Allison Gash has been planning this cruise for years. The Gash family (Murril, Al, Makenzie & Haley) visited us in Cholla Bay for Thanksgiving this past year and plans soon became a reality with Al’s 40th birthday as the official reason for the cruise. Al is Greek and has never had a chance to visit her homeland and turning 40 is a good chapter of life to see where she came from. Frankie and I chartered a sailing honeymoon cruise for Murril and Al in the British Islands some years ago and a sailing cruise in the Greek Islands would be a great on core..

Great vacations tend to draw interest from friends and this cruise quickly found wings with lots of friends showing interest and eventually joined the party. The final cruise list is 15 people with two 41′ Lagoon catamarans. The cruise is chartered with Albatross Charters and will be a week of sailing in the Saronic Gulf. The Albatross web site says: these islands situated in the Saronic Gulf southwest of Athens are among the most beautiful and interesting of all the Greek islands. They are favorites close to one another, usually within a two or three hours sail. Long stretches of sandy beaches, fragrant pine forest, and rocky capes against a backdrop of brilliant sunshine and crystal blue water provide an infinite variety of scenic beauty. The cultures and people are as varied as the settings, luring visitors with pottery, sponges, pistachios, and almond cakes, which are available at shops and restaurants along the narrow, winding streets of the island towns. Sounds like Big Fun!

We will be doing a cruise similar to the one outlined in the table below. You can click on the destinations to get a brief view of the islands.

Although we have many capable skipper on board we are chartering with charter skippers on the boats. Cruising wisdom in articles I’ve read recommend a skipper to make the cruise more like a vacation. They can manage crowded anchorages, port captains, set us up for family run restaurants and make a great tour guide while we enjoy everything. Of coarse, we can sail whenever we want. The cruise is August 4th – 10th during high vacation season in Europe so we will experience a true European vacation. Travel guides indicate the area will be full of Italians this time of year.

Our sailboat, a Lagoon 41′ catamaran is a charter special with 4 ample cabins with a “galley up” galley and large community salon. “Galley up” means it is at the upper salon level instead on being down in a hull like Gato Loco. Below deck, in the hulls, there are two cabins in each.

That’s right, they call these cats sailing station wagons, big, roomy with all the comforts for four couples. It will be interesting to see how she sails although it doesn’t really matter. Seeing Greece by sea seems only fitting for those of us who sail regularly on Gato Loco.

All the crews will arrive in Athen around the 1st of August and will use the days before the cruise to explore Athens and the surrounding areas. I’m getting a strong feeling that this cruise may ignite some new cruising priority. Everybody is very excited!

Hey, now that we’re in Europe what else can we to do? Al has a cousin studying at the Vatican so we will be spending 4 days with Murril and Al in Rome after the cruise. Frankie’s grand parents on both sides of the family migrated to the US from southern Italy in the 1920’s so we’ve located their villages and will rent a car and tour southern Italy over 6 days to try to get a glimps of their villages. On our way to Athens we will layover in New York City for 3 days to visit friends. Finally, our dog Neely will be staying with my mother in Gallatin, Missouri north of Kansas City so the vacation will begin and end with a cross country cruise in our small motor home (Pee Wee). Putting this all together and we have a 7 week summer vacation.